Kurds to Discuss Self-Rule in 15 Cities of North Kurdistan

Following the declarations of self-rule in many settlements across North Kurdistan (E/SE Turkey) in the last two months, the Democratic Regions’ Party (DBP) is preparing to hold meetings to discuss self-governance and autonomy in 15 Kurdish cities between October 1-11.

The meetings organised by the DBP will witness a discussion of self-governance from various aspects in the provinces of Siirt, Batman, Mardin, Amed, Urfa, Dersim, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van, Bitlis, Ağrı, Iğdır, Kars, Muş and Erzurum.

According to the information released by DBP Headquarters, the meetings will discuss self-rule, democratic autonomy in all its dimensions, which is to be realised in accordance with the social dynamics of the settlements, embracing various communities, faith groups, civil society organisations, local administrations and people’s assemblies; the future of the cities and the roles to be played by social dynamics during the building process of self-rule.

The meetings will last two days in each of the 15 cities. The first day will bring together a rich diversity of groups composing the social dynamics of the cities, while public meetings will take place on the second day.

DBP called for strong participation in the meetings, which are also supported and will be attended by representatives of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and Free Women’s Congress (KJA).

Turkish Impunity Ends with Kurdish Sovereignty

The total warfare concept of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), initiated after its historic defeat at the June 7 elections, is being put into practice with ongoing operations against fighters of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, imposition of curfews and massacre of civilians in Kurdish towns, arrest of Kurdish administrators elected by the people, demolition of cemeteries of guerrillas and attacks on HDP around the country.

As Kurdish circles insist on their demand for the ending of the conflict in the country through talks and negotiations for the resolution of the Kurdish question, and attainment of a lasting peace, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP government maintain their desire for the continuation of the war and bloodshed ahead of the November 1 election; which they imposed on the country in a desire to get a higher rate of votes than June 7.

Turkish officials in addition, put the blame for the current situation in the country on either the HDP at times, or PKK at others, while also stating clearly that things would not have reached this point if the AKP had gained 400 seats in parliament in June.

The state terror targeting civilians in the Kurdish region has left dozens of people dead since the blatant initiation of the war concept by the AKP as a kind of vengeance for its failure to get what it desired from the elections.

Furthermore, state officials claim either that ‘no civilians have been killed int the intervention by security forces’, or ‘all the civilians were killed by the terrorist organization’, which has become a term used only for the PKK in Turkey.

As all the civilian deaths remain unexposed and untried, security forces are encouraged to commit further crimes against the Kurdish population owing to the provocative statements and orders by state officials.

On the other hand, it is not counted as a crime anymore for security forces to kill civilians during events, protests, demonstrations, interventions or just arbitrarily without the need for any situation.

None of the perpetrators of civilian murders have been put on trial or punished so far, apart from several exceptions that were forced by popular reaction but still didn’t go beyond punishing only the person who pulled the trigger, without ever shedding light on the actual actors behind the murders, as was the case in the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Such shady murders by the state will never be exposed as long as the ‘deep forces’ targeting those criticizing, objecting to and standing against the government and the state remain. The extrajudicial killings of the 90’s still remain in dark, as perpetrators are yet to be exposed, and even the bones of many victims are yet to be found by their families.

In addition to the still unrevealed ones, the Turkish state and forces affiliated to it commit further crimes against humanity every day.

While countless victims are still waiting for justice under the ground, it seems unlikely that justice can be achieved for those living above it; under the same and even worse conditions, facing attacks of annihilation, which create more and more victims every day.

The problem of impunity is a problem of mentality the Turkish state was grounded on. This land used to be Anatolia and housed numerous diversities once, until they were all massacred and the country was changed into a ‘Turkish state’. Kurds were the main group that resisted it, took up arms and started a fight and self-defense to survive, which is now called the ‘Kurdish question’.

There exists no Kurdish question because existence cannot be a matter of question. Kurds will continue proving to the world that the more attacks they face, the stronger they will grow and fight.